Intrusion tolerant server system

A dynamically reconfigurable intrusion-tolerant network interposed between a service requesting client and a protected server to minimize the impact of intrusive events comprising:

• a proxy server for receiving network service requests from a client and forwarding said requests pursuant to a tolerance protocol to a protected server, and responding to a client;
• an acceptance monitor for receiving from the protected server one or more responses to the client request and applying one or more acceptance tests thereto;
• a ballot monitor for receiving from the acceptance monitor the results of the applied acceptance tests and determining a preferred response to the client request;
• an intrusion sensor responsive to anomalies in operation of the network for detecting threats to the network;
• and
• an adaptive reconfigurer for altering the tolerance protocol and reconfiguring a network forwarding scheme among the proxy server, acceptance monitor and ballot monitor in response to a predetermined condition.

A method for reconfiguring communication among network components to minimize the impact of intrusive events, comprising:

• receiving a network service request and forwarding the request pursuant to a tolerance protocol;
• generating a response to the service request and forwarding the response;
• applying one or more acceptance tests to the response and forwarding the test results;
• polling the test results to determine a preferred response based upon the poll;
• and
• forwarding the preferred response to the client.

A method for dynamically reconfiguring communication among network components pursuant to multiple tolerance protocols to minimize the impact of intrusive events, comprising:

• receiving a network service request and forwarding the request pursuant to a tolerance protocol;
• generating a response to the service request and forwarding the response;
• applying one or more acceptance tests to the response and forwarding the test results;
• polling the acceptance test results to determine a preferred response based upon the poll;
• forwarding the preferred response to the client;
• detecting any anomalies in operation of the network;
• and
• revising the tolerance protocol and a network forwarding scheme in response to an anomaly in operation of the network.